Post navigation

Preparing for Spring!

This Sunday was probably the first we have had in a few months that is showing us a glimpse of Spring – with the slightly longer days and some Sun breaking through the clouds. It was a reminder that I have lots of work to do in the garden to bring if up to scratch and get ready for planting out in the next couple of weeks. The fruit trees have been sprayed once with copper to try and stop the curly leaf on the stone fruit varieties and the black spot on the apple and pear trees. I will need to do another spray before the buds burst to limit the damage. I have to accept that every tree will be affected to a certain degree, as it has been a wet winter which has provided the perfect breeding ground for fungal diseases.

It will be interesting to see how the apple trees fair this year, as last year the crops were well under the previous year (probably due to the fact that I didn’t thin them out enough). Also the cherry trees are now well established, so I am really looking forward to getting a decent crop out of them this year in time for Christmas.

One thing I look forward to every year is the first bite of a fresh Tomato straight off the bush. This year the focus will be on a couple of our favourite varieties – the Tommy Toe (for the salads) and the Black Russian due to their amazing flavour.

Over the next couple of weeks I will continue to prune back the remaining fruit trees and top up the raised gardens with fresh compost that has been brewing in our large aero bin for the last couple of months. It always amazes me how quickly our kitchen scraps and lawn clippings break down into such a small space and its great to be able to recycle this way knowing that all that goodness is going back into improving the soil for future crops.